The Genius Change Liverpool Made To Beat Arsenal
Despite taking a battering in the first half, Liverpool eventually eliminated Arsenal 2-0 in the FA Cup 3rd Round. But while Mikel Arteta will rightly lament his side's poor finishing, it was actually an inspired tactical change from Jurgen Klopp that turned the tide in the second half.
Transcript
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00:01 Alright, so we've got both teams set up before you here.
00:03 We've got Arsenal in the white because even though they were at home and they were allowed to wear the red,
00:07 they decided to wear the white because of that campaign they're doing.
00:09 And we've got Liverpool in the red, who even though they could wear the red because Arsenal weren't wearing the red
00:15 and they were allowed to do that, they decided to wear the purple, but I don't have purple so they are in red.
00:21 Does that make sense?
00:23 So, and I'm sure Liverpool fans won't mind me saying this,
00:25 Arsenal absolutely battered them for the majority of that first half.
00:30 Liverpool looked completely insane, they couldn't get out of their own half,
00:32 Arsenal were winning the ball back high up and should have been a good few goals up, but they weren't.
00:38 But the reason Arsenal were having so much success was because of how they were dealing with Liverpool's build-up shape.
00:43 We've got Liverpool in the 4-3-3 shape that they started the game with.
00:46 Gakpo is in the midfield, Nunes is up front, Harvielli has replaced Mo Salah on the right,
00:51 but obviously this is not what they do when they get the ball from back.
00:54 What happens is that Trent Alexander-Arnold comes across into the midfield,
00:58 the defence shuffles over like this, and they get this like 5-player 3-2 shape, right?
01:04 And the advantage this in theory gives you is while you can say they are matched up man for man here,
01:08 they all of a sudden have an overload here.
01:10 So as soon as the midfield comes into play, they've got four players in this area and Arsenal would only have three.
01:15 But what Arsenal did was very clever and very effective.
01:18 Basically, Rhys Nelson, who was on the left, was constantly tracking Alexander-Arnold's run into the middle,
01:23 while Odegaard, who was in the midfield, was pushing up to the other centre-back.
01:27 This meant that Arsenal were really aggressively man for man in the very centre of the pitch,
01:31 but crucially, were not having Bakayo Saka do that with Joe Gomez.
01:35 If either of these two central midfielders, it was usually Curtis Jones, was trying to drop in to help,
01:40 then Declan Rice would really aggressively push onto him.
01:43 And then the entire back line as one would squeeze right the way up to the halfway line,
01:47 forcing both the wide players' backs, and they were all squashed up as well.
01:51 Saliba had a handle on Nunes, and that meant that Gabriel was free to push up onto the other central midfielder.
01:56 They gave them no out ball whatsoever, except Joe Gomez.
02:01 And what then happened time and time again was the ball would keep going out into that left space to either Gomez,
02:07 or if Kwanzaa had wandered out to there, he would get it as well.
02:09 And because both of these players are right-footed, they found it very difficult to control it and play the ball forward.
02:15 They were forced to turn back towards their own goal, and that is when Arsenal were pouncing.
02:20 And that would either force one of them to hit a hopeful ball into the midfield on their left foot,
02:24 which Arsenal were quite gleefully mopping up, as you can see here,
02:27 or it meant they could force a turnover, which is where their best chance came from.
02:31 They steal the ball here, they get in on goal, and they absolutely should score that.
02:35 Liverpool just had no answer to this whatsoever in the first half.
02:38 Trent Alexander-Arnold kept dropping between the two centre-backs just to try and get himself a bit of space,
02:43 which did work quite well. They were getting him on the ball.
02:47 But from here, there was virtually no pass he could make.
02:49 The only thing that was on was trying to hit the ball over the top, in behind for Nunes to run onto,
02:54 which, you know, might work, but that's an incredibly difficult thing to do.
02:58 Like, don't get me wrong, Alexander-Arnold more than has the ability to hit that kind of space with an accurate ball,
03:03 and Nunes has the pace to get onto it, but A) Saliba's an excellent defender and is no slouch,
03:09 was beating him in a footrace every time, and B) Ramsdale just sweeps up really well.
03:13 So that was never really on.
03:15 So, brilliant by Arteta. He's got that all figured out. It's created loads of chances for Arsenal to dominate in the game,
03:20 and they should be three up, but, as Arsenal fans will tell you, they just can't finish anything at the minute,
03:27 and they went in at nil-nil.
03:28 And if you've just somehow not been watching the Premier League this season, allow me to tell you,
03:33 if you have Liverpool figured out tactically, if you have the upper hand, the worst thing you can do is not kill them off.
03:41 Because so many times this season, we have seen Jurgen Klopp correctly read the game and make the absolute perfect changes
03:50 in order to not just nullify what's happening, but to completely flip it on its head.
03:54 Like, I'm sure I'll be even more gushing by the end of this video, but I genuinely think what he does in the second half
04:00 probably proves he's the best in-game manager in the world right now.
04:04 He made two just, like, incredibly smart changes.
04:08 So, when what you're doing is not working, the temptation becomes to completely change what it is you're doing.
04:14 But Klopp doesn't want to do that, because what Liverpool do is normally very effective.
04:18 So the trick is to adapt it to what's happening.
04:21 So the most important thing was, without making a substitution, you change the personnel around.
04:26 Harvey Elliott moved into midfield, Cody Gakpo went up front, Nunes went across to the left wing, and Diaz came across to the right wing.
04:32 What that means is you've now got your two most direct threats in Diaz and Nunes,
04:37 two players who will get on the ball and they will run at people and they will get in the space, in the wide areas,
04:42 which is where Arsenal were allowing them to have the ball.
04:45 So now, all of a sudden, when you get into this build-up shape and Arsenal begin to aggressively press,
04:49 but leave that side of the pitch free, you're quite happy to have it there,
04:53 because either one of two things is going to happen.
04:55 When Jones comes short to help and drags Rice with him, Gakpo's going to drop into that space rather than pushing up onto the defenders,
05:02 but more importantly, Nunes on that side can either receive the ball short from the left back or get in behind.
05:08 And it was this slight tweak from playing these balls over the top into the centre of the pitch
05:12 to playing these balls over the top into the left-hand channel that really started to sort of unsettle Arsenal psychologically,
05:20 because all of a sudden, that wasn't the ball getting returned to them and them sweeping it up,
05:24 that was Liverpool moving up the pitch and keeping possession.
05:27 Like, quite early into the second half, I think it's like the 52nd or the 53rd minute or something,
05:31 Alexander-Arnold again drops between the centre-backs, Arsenal are a little bit more wary,
05:36 they're not pressing as aggressively, they let him have the time on the ball,
05:39 and he hits a perfect pass cross-field in behind Ben White, which Nunes collects.
05:45 And what's always so advantageous about those balls in terms of forcing your opponent back, right,
05:49 is just look here, right, where is the offside line? It's there, right?
05:53 Well, if we hit something in behind and Darwin Nunes here runs all the way up to get it and takes Ben White with him,
06:00 where's your offside line now? Hey, would you look at that?
06:02 It allows every single Liverpool player to run in behind, unless of course the entire Arsenal defence go with them,
06:08 and if the entire Arsenal defence go with them, the entire rest of the team has to move back as well.
06:13 And if you don't make those recovery runs or the other team are just faster than you, then this can happen.
06:19 Liverpool should have gone ahead from this chance against Harvey Elliott this time,
06:23 knocking the ball into the left-hand channel behind Ben White, Nunes is onto it,
06:28 and if his pass is just a little bit better, Diaz puts them one up about 10 minutes before they got the goal.
06:33 And the thing is, this isn't necessarily what won Liverpool the game, but it is certainly what swung the momentum
06:40 back from it being all Arsenal to being a far more even game. And in a far more even game,
06:45 Liverpool were probably always more likely to win. Actually, I don't know why I'm saying it's not what won them the game,
06:50 it absolutely is. Like, the first goal comes from a free kick, yes, but Liverpool get that free kick
06:55 because when they play it out to Gomez on the left-hand side, Arsenal are now too scared to do that high press.
07:01 Ben White sticks to Nunes, who goes up the channel, leaves all this space here for Gomez to run into,
07:07 and he drags the ball up the pitch, and they get it in that corner and Arsenal concede the foul.
07:12 And even the second goal, like, it's a bit of a stretch to say it was directly caused by this,
07:16 but it is a ball out to the left-hand side, and it is a pass in behind Ben White,
07:21 and it is Diaz who's been moved onto that right-hand side to get up with the play, who scores it.
07:27 So, yeah, it kind of was that entire change, but weirdly, that was only one of two really good--
07:34 why can I never do numbers on my fingers?-- of two really good changes that Klopp made.
07:38 Jota coming on was a brilliant move, I'm a massive fan of Jota, but I actually think it was the change he made
07:43 right back that stopped the momentum swinging back towards Arsenal.
07:47 Gabriel Martinelli arrives on the pitch in the second half, and his first two contributions are to skin Trent Alexander-Arnold alive.
07:55 Liverpool have been having so much joy from getting him into the middle of the pitch and allowing him to hit those passes
08:00 into the areas where there is space, but all of a sudden, with Martinelli's introduction, he can't really do that.
08:06 He has to stay in the right-back position because that's where the threat is.
08:09 Arsenal, again, should have gotten a goal from this. Like, he just breezes past Alexander-Arnold like he's not there,
08:14 he gets into the box, and it's just bad decision-making and bad execution that stops that being a goal.
08:20 Like, I was watching this at the time and I was like, "Oh, that's such a good substitution by Arteta,
08:25 you imagine Arsenal are going to go on and win this now," but Klopp had an answer,
08:30 and that answer was the introduction of Connor Bradley.
08:33 Now, if you're not familiar, he is 20 years old, he's from Northern Ireland, he's come through Liverpool's youth system,
08:38 he was on loan at Bolton Wanderers last year where he was their player of the season,
08:41 and they really, really do rate him as a right-back.
08:45 And indeed, his first contribution after coming onto the pitch was to take up that right-back role,
08:49 allowed Alexander-Arnold to move just full-time into the midfield,
08:53 and when Martinelli gets the ball on that side and tries to take him on, he could not get past him.
08:59 He takes up a brilliant starting position here, just shows him all the way down the left-hand side,
09:04 and then when Martinelli tries to sort of get past him and get into the middle,
09:07 he just shepherds that towards the byline, then bounces it off him for a goal kick.
09:13 That's genuinely such composed, excellent defending, and it's not something you ever normally see from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
09:20 That's not a criticism, we're not doing a "Trent can't defend" video, I think Trent is excellent,
09:24 but you can see, after an hour of that game, he did not have the legs to keep up with Martinelli,
09:30 and Bradley didn't just have the legs, he had the mind legs as well.
09:34 And lo and behold, the next time the ball comes out to Martinelli on that side,
09:38 he thinks about it, he wants to try and go past him, but he thinks better of it,
09:42 and plays it back into a congested middle of the pitch.
09:45 Klopp successfully shut down Liverpool's best route to goal.
09:50 I mean, I'm saying Klopp did that, it's not like he came on with his boots and his little shorts
09:54 and just put a reducer on Martinelli within the first couple minutes.
09:57 Connor Bradley did that, that was all Connor Bradley's doing, but Klopp told him to, so up to you.
10:03 So yeah, I thought that was genuinely one of the most fascinating tactical battles I've seen,
10:08 certainly in an FA Cup third round, for a very, very long time.
10:11 Like, Arteta absolutely had Liverpool figured out from the first whistle,
10:15 but as we said, Jurgen Klopp might well be the best in-game manager in the Premier League.
10:21 Like, Christ, I'm a Newcastle United fan, he did it to us when they went down to ten men,
10:25 he just figured something out and then we lost that game.
10:29 You simply have to hand it to him.
10:33 And technically, Arsenal did hand it to him, because that first one was an own goal, wasn't it?
10:40 I can't actually do jokes, by the way, I'm just really tired today.
10:44 Anyway, Liverpool fans and absolutely anybody else watching, if you have enjoyed this breakdown,
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11:04 In the meantime, though, you can grab me on Twitter @AdamClearyClery and any other social you care to as well,
11:10 I'm probably there also.
11:12 442, that is all in the corner of the video for you.
11:14 The latest issue of the mag, can I pick that up without breaking your gaze?
11:17 Yes, I can. That is still in all good retailers and the bad ones too.
11:21 It's the 2024 awards issue and comes with a free calendar, which you will need,
11:26 because I bet you don't definitely know what the date is today.
11:31 You think it might be the 7th, but it's actually the 8th, you see, so that will come in really useful.
11:36 That's it, that was the outro.
11:38 It could have been better, yes, I'll take that feedback, but it's done now, so there you go.
11:43 Bye!
11:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]